Pastor's Ponderings: Old Testament bible study of Psalm 52 (April 16, 2026)

April 16, 2026:  Thursday Bible Study on Psalm 52

Blessings and Peace in the Name, and by the Power, of our Risen Savior. I hope that we can all pray for peace to be established between Lebanon and Israel, and between the Ukraine and Russia, and between our country and Iran. I know that it seems like a lot to ask of God, but with God all things are possible, and since we pray and live with the Holy Spirit in, with, and around us, we must know that we are guided by Christ's Grace, Love, and Wisdom, not only in our praying, but also in our daily living.  So, my invitation to prayer is for each one of us at American to pray for guidance about how we should move forward as a congregation on the site where we have been for 76 years, remembering that we are not ever deserted by our Savior, but instead promised that His Resurrected presence with us is steadfast.

Our Psalm for today is interesting. In the opening verses we have what appears to be a section which could certainly be indicated in Saul, Israel's first king. As he became less and less stable emotionally and mentally out of fear for his place as the king, Saul acted with strength filled with evil and choices meant to steer away from the direction which God had put in place, by calling a simple shepherd boy, friends of Saul's son, a conveyer of calm when he played his harp for his flocks, or to bring comfort to the king who he would replace.  In our lives all people are presented with choices, the consequences of which often appear unseen as choices are made to follow the LORD'S direction, or to set out on an independent direction with little regard for what it means to fall away from the LORD to do something which will be more violent and dangerous, both to its perpetrator and its victim(s).  Saul's terror at losing his kingship resulted in insanity and instability, and eventually, his son would become the second king of Israel, not David (YET!). From the descriptions we have of David, and the Psalms (songs) attributed to him, we discover a man of faith, who since his childhood has attempted, and often found, success in his God guided actions, all of which brought David, and his followers, great blessings, that is, until David decided to act without God's blessing, taking another man's wife for his own, and then arranging for her husband to be killed at the front of a battle in which Israel was involved.  The ultimate consequence of David's loss of his usual faithfulness meant that both he and Bathsheba would lose the son they had conceived in their deceit. It would take great humility and confession on David's part to get restored in his relationship with the LORD. In our Psalm for today we see a pattern of what happens when a leader, probably Saul, loses his ability to remain faithful to God. We must remember that Saul was a much-loved king until his choices brought about his downfall. And even people of faith can make choices that bring about the destruction of everything with which they have been blessed. Of course, we must ask if this is retribution by God as the Old Testament indicates, or if it is the natural outcome of choices which fail to regard and utilize the gift of faith which has been gifted to us by God's Spirit. Sometimes people use a false sense of faith to convince others that they are loved by Christ, and THAT WOULD BE TRUE because Christ loves every one of His children, both those who know and love Him, and those who have no clue what it means to live in faith.  What every one of us needs to remember is that there is only one judge, and it is the Savior! We must all approach our Savior in humility and confession. No one is without sin. There is only one, and that is Christ himself. Our Psalm for today is a revelation of the power of faith to transform the life of the faithful, providing for all of us who accept Christ as our Savior, to see the outcome of God's Love in our lives, and then in those special moments to laugh with confidence in the power of our LORD to help us see that abundant life, as the doing of our Savior, and to know of His constant presence with His children.

Thank you for sharing with me today. Please pray for me today too. I am continuing to battle a stomach bug which I picked up from one of the boys. (They are really men) So I worked from home yesterday and will again today. God bless you all!

With Love in Christ, Pastor Kim